


Realization

by Alluraallie



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddling, Fluff, I don't know the timeline of the NCT schedule so just pretend I'm right, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Mark Lee is bad at feelings, Sharing a Bed, this is very soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 03:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alluraallie/pseuds/Alluraallie
Summary: Donghyuck notices that Mark has started avoiding him after one of their movie nights. He should be upset, but he doesn't know what to be upset about. He just doesn't want a repeat of a couple years ago.





	Realization

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LaVie_EnRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaVie_EnRose/gifts).

> Hello! This is my first Markhyuck fic, so be gentle. I was inspired by an old Markhyuck moment I found in a comp.
> 
> Also, I'm dedicating this fic to LaVie_EnRose because they dedicated their beautiful Chenji fic to me <3 Please go check out their works as well because their writing is beautiful!
> 
> People that are waiting for The Laundry Chronicles to update, have no fear! I'm working on the next chapter and it should be up within a week or so :)
> 
> Shoutout to the one and only Liz because she's a living saint!

Mark was acting weird, and not in the usual Mark Lee acting weird way, like stuttering through a sentence or making weird noises (though Donghyuck was guilty of that as well). In an odd, shying away from him kind of way. You see, they have a movie night set up for every Wednesday (when their schedules allow) and tonight Donghyuck had been running a little late. He was coming from a magazine photoshoot with NCT Dream. While he was on the way back, he texted Mark to pick out the movie and make some popcorn. He didn’t stare out the window for very long before he got a text back. Mark answered in a boring fashion with a simple “Okay.” Nothing out of the ordinary there. 

When Donghyuck arrived, he was surprised to find the dorm strangely silent. The lights were off in the kitchen and there was no sign of movement. He walked into the living room to find Mark lounging on the couch, phone in hand. 

“Yooo.” 

Mark looked up wide-eyed before processing it was Donghyuck and giving an easy smile. 

“Hey man, how was the photoshoot?” Mark asked as Hyuck walked closer.

“Ah you know, same old, same old,” he responded, before flopping unceremoniously onto the soft couch. Donghyuck laughed and threw his head back against the couch, remembering one particular moment of the photoshoot. 

“At one of the sets, Renjun was balancing his legs up on a slab of concrete and leaning back against the wall, Jeno was sitting down next to him, and I was on the opposite side of the wall.” 

Mark was watching Hyuck intently, eyes lighting up before the punchline even came. That’s what he liked most about Mark. He always listened closely and was so entertained by what Donghyuck had to say. Always ready to laugh as if it was a given that whatever Hyuck said would be earth-shatteringly hilarious. He liked to think that he was a very entertaining person in general; all his hyungs always laughed at his jokes or patted him on the head affectionately whenever he said something funny, but Mark was different. Mark almost had the same craving to hear his stories that he himself had to tell them.

“So I decided to swing my leg around and kick Renjun on the butt. Didn’t even do it very hard, but he lost his balance and fell on his ass. Then, I ran around for two minutes while he chased me and threatened to kick me down instead. He kept yelling, ‘why would you do that during a shoot?’ I could barely answer because I was laughing so hard, but I said ‘aren’t you the one who took ballet? Where’s your balance?’” 

Mark started laughing his signature laugh, throwing his head back and clapping. 

“Oh my god, I could totally see that,” Mark responded when he caught his breath. How are the kids doing?” he said after a beat.

“They’re good, just the same as usual. You know how it is. Free to do whatever they want now since they don’t have a nagging leader looking over them.”

Mark bumped his shoulder into Donghyuck playfully, a glare Donghyuck could easily see through on his face.

“What did you do today?” Donghyuck inquired.

“SuperM promotion stuff. Photos mostly. Mark sat back up and rocked a bit in anticipation. “Baekhyun-hyung during the shoot-”

Donghyuck continued to look at Mark as he spoke. Nice and easy. That was their relationship. The other members were the usual topic of their movie night conversations as they rarely did anything without someone else from the group.

After Mark finished the story, Donghyuck asked the question that had been plaguing his mind:

“Where is everyone by the way?”

“Oh most of the guys don’t have a schedule tomorrow, so they went out to a bar or something. I think Taeyong’s in his room sleeping. You and me though? We don’t have that luxury.”

Donghyuck had started resting his eyes during Mark’s story, but at Mark’s words he opened his eyes and sat up slowly. Mark wore a mix between an awkward smile and grimace on his face.

“Do you want to reschedule movie night for another night? If you’re too tired, I don’t mind,” Donghyuck said features painted in concern. 

He knows Mark and Taeyong have the craziest schedules of all. He hasn’t forgotten Mark’s sleepless nights while preparing to debut for three different groups and trying to lead one. He had been there and he remembers the bags under his eyes, the half-hearted ‘I’m fines,’ and frustration that seemed to show in everything he did. It seemed like everything was a chore to him. He remembered it all very well and he never wanted to see him like that again. And now Mark’s debuting again, this time in a group made of already established groups. He’s sure that came with its own challenges and if Mark wanted to use his free time to rest, he wouldn’t blame him.

“No no! It’s good, I want to watch a movie with you, it honestly helps me relax,” Mark said reassuredly, “I mean um, it might all be tiring, but these are the type of things I look forward to.”

At that, Donghyuck changed his tone entirely. He sidled up to Mark putting on his best aegyo voice. 

“Aww, is Markie saying he likes spending time with me?” Mark attempted to bat him away as Hyuck clung to his side.

“I’m the best part of your day huh? You love me that much? I know why, seeing as I’m such a joy to be around.”

Mark halfheartedly pushed him, whiny ‘stops’ and ‘get away from mes’ making their way out of his mouth.

“Go get dressed, I’ll go make the popcorn,” Mark said with a laugh.

Hyuck reluctantly pulled himself away from Mark’s side and started walking in the direction of his room.

“Ah, really, I give you two things to do and you can’t even manage that? What am I going to do with you?” Donghyuck said sassily, sauntering closer to his and Jaehyun’s bedroom door. He heard Mark’s exasperated sigh as he closed the door behind him.

As soon as Donghyuck washed his face and put on his favorite hoodie and sweatpants, he walked back out to find Mark had returned to the same spot on the couch, popcorn on his lap, and phone in hand. 

Donghyuck flopped back down and grabbed a handful of popcorn before moving the bowl off of Mark’s lap onto the side of the couch. He scooted over until his they were thigh to thigh, his head placed on Mark’s shoulder. Mark tensed slightly almost as if he was going to shove him off, before resigning to let him be.

It wasn’t a secret that Donghyuck liked physical affection. It made him feel close to people. Even if someone said they enjoyed his company, Hyuck always felt better having the physical reassurance. Mark wasn’t so into physical affection; it just wasn’t something he was used to. Since knowing Hyuck though, he’d had no choice but to get used to it. Donghyuck knew the ways he could get Mark to reciprocate. He tended to be more pliant at night when he was sleepy. So any chance he could, Hyuck made sure to show affection. Even if his tongue was sharp, his touch was soft.

“So what are we watching?” Hyuck asked lazily.

Mark had been focused on watching something on his phone, but when Hyuck spoke, he looked up at him.

“Uh, um I was-” Mark started then stopped speaking completely. He suddenly stared out in front of him, eyes wide like he was having some kind of grand epiphany about life.

Hyuck could only give a perplexed and annoyed look in response. He’d been privy to one of Mark’s “life-changing moments” before. They usually were something that literally everybody else knew, like how to fold your bossam so none of the insides fall out or he was saying a Korean phrase wrong all along and didn’t realize until that moment. Not very interesting. And Donghyuck was tired and wanted to watch a movie.

“Spit it out Mark, I want to go to bed before 2am.”

Mark looked over, like he again remembered Donghyuck’s presence, and then scooted away so Donghyuck fell onto the couch when his shoulder was no longer under his head.

“Um well, I was actually thinking you could pick it,” Mark said almost frantically.

Donghyuck sat up, exasperation written all over his face.

“Mark, there’s a reason why I always let you pick the movie. Because we’d never watch anything ever because whenever I pick, you never want to watch it. And I, being the good samaritan I am, decided to revoke my movie-picking privileges because of this reason.”

“Just pick it, whatever it is, I’ll watch it.” Mark said again quickly. His eyes were going between the couch, Donghyuck, and the TV as if he couldn’t decide where to look.

“Alright, if you say so. You realize that means we’re watching a cheesy rom-com right?” Donghyuck says while scrolling through the list of movies on the TV, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. 

Mark would have to break for sure. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, but there’s no way he’d be able to stand an entire 2 hours of cheesy romance.

He chose the latest one out that he hadn’t yet seen and pressed play.

“This is okay right?” Hyuck said, almost daring Mark to protest.

He glanced over to see the look of dissatisfaction on Mark’s face and couldn’t help but smile. He got him for sure. Now he’ll say ‘actually I was thinking we could watch the newest Marvel movie’ and they can get over this weird tension that had befallen the room. Donghyuck hated tension, that’s why he always tried his best to alleviate it.

“It’s fine.” Mark said, putting on his best fake neutral face.

Donghyuck’s face dropped. Why was he being so weirdly compliant? He usually faced more argument than this.

“Okay, well get ready for a night of romance.” Donghyuck responded raising his eyebrows in a seductive way. “And come over here, why are you on the other side of the couch?”

“Oh, um I don’t know,” Mark laughed awkwardly. He scooched over a miniscule amount and Donghyuck rolled his eyes before moving over until their thighs were touching like before.

The movie was actually pretty good. He enjoys romantic comedies as much as the next person (except maybe Mark Lee), but they can be pretty hit or miss for him. What wasn’t so good was when Hyuck laid back and nuzzled into Mark’s arm, he felt him tense up, but instead of the usual instant relaxation, he was met with resistance.

As much as Donghyuck loved making Mark uncomfortable with suggestive comments or unwarranted kisses, he never wanted to make him uncomfortable with his presence or by being close to him (at least not too much). So after a few minutes, he unwillingly pulled away and laid his head against the back of the couch. He looked over at Mark, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the TV. He looked far away, but he visibly loosened up when Hyuck moved away. Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows; maybe he’s just having a tough day. Donghyuck was still a little peeved that he wasn’t going to get the cuddles he wanted tonight.

After the movie ended, he turned to Mark again. 

“So what did you think? I thought the ending could’ve been a little better, like I totally saw that coming.”

“Yeah, it was a little predictable, wasn’t it?” Mark answered. 

He seemed distracted and was and doing that thing he does when he’s not really paying attention, agreeing with everything Donghyuck says. 

He decided to test that theory.

“And when her ex-boyfriend flew in from Vancouver just to crash the wedding, it seemed like just a little too much.” Donghyuck said convincingly.

“Oh yeah, me too.”

“I knew it. Mark Lee, you weren’t even paying attention!” Hyuck yelled playfully, but he suspected some underlying annoyance creeped into his tone. It’s how he gets when he doesn’t get the attention he craves, okay?

“Sorry Hyuck. I’m just tired I guess.” He said genuinely apologetic, guilty smile in tow.

“I’m going to head to bed, I have to get up early tomorrow. You do too, so you should get some sleep,” Mark continued, putting on his leader voice. “I’ll see you soon Hyuck. Goodnight.” He turned around and walked down the hall to his room without waiting for a response. It wasn’t until he heard the door close behind him that Hyuck shook himself out of his confusion with a shake of his head.

Which brought him to where he was now. Laying in bed, pondering the weird behaviors of Mark Lee. 

\--

He stayed up an embarrassingly long time thinking about it, so when he awoke to his alarm in the morning, he wasn’t very happy. Whatever, he didn’t have time to worry about this right now. He had a Dream schedule to attend.

Donghyuck never set his alarm for more than 20 minutes before he had to leave the dorm. So as usual he showered at a record-breaking speed, got dressed, and ran into the kitchen to grab something before going to the company car. 

Taeyong was there cooking eggs and Mark was sitting at the table on his phone as usual. He came up behind Mark and pinched his cheek before going past him into the cabinet to grab a snack. He made an embarrassing noise in response. Hyuck smiled to himself, satisfied with the response.

“Haechan, you know that doesn’t suffice for breakfast. You need to start getting up earlier so you can eat a proper breakfast. One of these days, you’re going to drop during practice.” Taeyong said with a concerned look.

“Hyung, this is the first time I’ve seen you eat breakfast this week. I’ll eat properly when you do,” he replied having already grabbed what he wanted and walking towards the door.

“You’re still growing,” Taeyong said in a last ditch effort as Hyuck opened the door.

He glanced behind him one more time only to see Taeyong focused back on his eggs, and Mark with his head in his arms, the tips of his ears red.

\--

Mark was avoiding him. And Donghyuck wasn’t sure why. Mark never intentionally avoided him unless he was mad. And the last time he was that mad was during We Young promotions. Donghyuck was pretty pissed off too, so he wasn’t complaining. 

But they’re way past that petty bullshit now and as far as Donghyuck knew, they weren’t fighting. 

The 127 members had to meet up to go over the choreography for Superhuman and Highway to Heaven because they were going to America to perform them soon. 

He went over to chat with Mark like he usually did before practice, but he seemed on guard and moved away when Donghyuck went to touch his arm. It wasn’t really that obvious to anyone from afar, but to Donghyuck, who’d known Mark since he was 13, it was terribly so. He wanted to be angry because he assumed Mark was mad at him for some reason, but he wasn’t sure what to be mad about. He was just hurt. 

He was about to ask what was wrong, but at that moment Taeyong called to start practice.

Mark walked out of the practice room when Taeyong dismissed everyone without a word to him, or anyone for that matter. The other members, namely Taeyong sent him questioning looks. Donghyuck knew he needed to do something about this. This wasn’t going to be a repeat of 2 years ago.

\--

Mark was crazy busy the next few days with finalizing SuperM choreography, so Hyuck didn’t see him much. During his down time, he’d usually bother Mark, but since that wasn’t an option, he found himself in Taeil’s room most of the time; the same thing he did when Mark was busy with Boss promotions. Taeil and him were really close. He always loved Taeil because he wouldn’t pry if he knew Donghyuck didn’t want to talk about something. He loved Taeyong and Doyoung to death, but sometimes they didn’t know when to let problems be.

He’d been remembering back to We Young promotions recently before he went to bed. He remembers how it all started. One prank gone too far, Mark was too stressed to deal with it anymore and he started yelling. Donghyuck said some choice words back. Mark pushed him and Donghyuck went to hit back before being restrained by Renjun and Mark by Jeno. He was so angry he shoved Renjun off and walked out.

They stopped talking; they weren’t even mature enough to be professional in practice and on stage, so much so that Taeyong and Jeno had to break them up multiple times. 

Then he remembers how it ended. Taeyong and I’m sure everyone else had enough. So Taeyong pulled him aside and refused to let him leave until he talked to him.

“C’mon Donghyuck, I know you can’t still be mad at him for being upset. He was under so much stress at the time, you know he didn’t have the energy to deal with it all. So why are you still continuing this?” Taeyong said, genuine worry written on his face.

At first, Donghyuck just sat and seethed in silence. Then he realized that this wasn’t like the other times Taeyong took him aside and he actually was serious about sitting there until he talked.

“Hyung, don’t you have more important things to do?” Hyuck said, annoyed.

“This is the most important thing,” he responded seriously.

Hyuck sighed. The thing is, he wasn’t really sure anymore. He just wanted his best friend back and he didn’t want to be the first to back down. He wanted to lay on his shoulder and poke his cheeks even though he pretended to hate it and wanted him to laugh at all his jokes again. The kind of laugh where he threw his head back and clapped and looked so completely beautiful in that moment that Donghyuck almost wanted to lean in and- oh. 

Taeyong was still looking at him, the same genuine concern on his face. Hyuck doesn’t know why he said it. It just felt right he guessed.

“Hyung, I’m in love with him.”

A beat of silence followed his confession.

“Oh baby,” Taeyong pulled him in for a hug.

Donghyuck wondered why Taeyong hugged him rather than asked questions, but when he felt his face, his realized he was crying.

If anyone asked if he cried in his bed that night, he would vehemently deny it.

\--

One week turned into two of not having a real conversation with Mark. Mark even texted him to cancel movie night this week because he was “too tired” which was nonsense because he said last week that it didn’t matter if he was tired. Donghyuck decided to do something he hadn’t done since he was a trainee, scared and missing his family.

He got out of bed, careful not to wake Jaehyun, and strolled down the hall to Mark and Doyoung’s room. He slowly opened the door and closed it behind him. 

Here goes nothing.

He climbed into Mark’s bed as he stirred and turned around. Mark blinked his eyes open sleepily (an adorable sight) before going completely wide-eyed.

“Hyuck, what are you doing?” Mark whisper-yelled.

“Be quiet, you’re going to wake Doyoung.” Hyuck said back nonchalantly.

“I couldn’t sleep because someone hasn’t been talking to me lately,” Hyuck quipped with a sour expression.

“I don’t know what you’re-” Mark started.

“Oh don’t give me that, you’ve been avoiding me and I don’t know why. Just tell me so I can fix it, okay? I’m sorry for whatever it was.”

At that Mark went slack jawed; Donghyuck rarely apologized even when he should, so the fact that he was apologizing and didn’t even know what he did was a rarity. And Mark Lee can’t keep his emotions off his face if he tried. It’s one of the things Donghyuck loved about him, but the past week he’d failed to figure out the cause of his bad feelings towards him.

He loved being close to Mark, he wanted to feel that closeness again. When Mark didn’t continue speaking, he reached his hand out to wrap around Mark’s waist.

Mark caught his hand midway and looked up at Donghyuck; he seemed to be having some kind of internal battle.

“Why do you keep doing that? You never hated when I would touch you before. At least not that much.” Donghyuck answered, he couldn’t prevent how small his voice sounded.

“Hyuck, you didn’t do anything wrong. I-I’m just going through some things right now and it’s hard to explain, but I just need some space,” Mark responded quietly. He sounded like he was choosing his words carefully.

“You know I’m here to help you right? Not make it harder. That’s what best friends do.” Donghyuck couldn’t remember when saying the words best friend became so hard.

He was pleading through his expression.  _ Please just tell me so we can go back to normal. _

Mark let out an exasperated sigh. 

“You can’t help me with this one. You wouldn’t like me very much if I told you.”

“I’d honestly probably rather hate you, then keep doing this. Then at least I would have a reason to be upset,” the pettiness came through in Donghyuck’s tone.

He sighed at Mark’s pained expression.

He whispered even softer than he had been, “I don’t think I could ever hate you, Mark Lee.”

That seemed to change something in Mark. His expression went from surprised to, dare he say, fond.

Hyuck reached for his hand. He didn’t pull away this time. Mark took a deep breath.

“I think I really really like you Lee Donghyuck, as more than a friend and I’m so sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I’ve been trying to make those feelings go away, but they haven’t changed. I’m sure if you give me more time-”

Hyuck was able to snap himself out of his stupor after the second sentence and pulled Mark close by the arm, burying his face in his neck.

Mark made a strangled noise in his throat in surprise.

Donghyuck couldn’t help it; the joy he felt in his heart made its way up to the surface and he started laughing.

“Donghyuck, I’m being serious. It’s not a joke,” Mark said in a whiny voice.

Sudden embarrassment struck Donghyuck and he said in a slightly shaky voice, “Mark Lee, you complete and utter fool, I’ve been in love with you since I was 17, maybe even longer.”

He felt the exact moment Mark relaxed in his hold. He closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the feeling of closeness. He could feel Mark’s heart racing a mile a minute and he’s sure his was no better.

After a few minutes, he pulled back and looked at Mark.

He was beautiful, that was nothing new, but how he looked at Donghyuck was. A kind of disbelieving fondness all over his face.

He reached out and touched Donghyuck’s cheek with his hand. Hyuck closed his eyes as he felt him trace his jawline. It was soft and gentle, like he was holding something precious. He continued until he reached his lips and touched them with his thumb. Hyuck’s breath hitched and he opened his eyes and parted his lips on instinct.

“Can I?” Mark asked carefully.

Donghyuck could only nod in response.

Carefully, Mark brought their faces closer together and Donghyuck’s eyes fluttered closed again.

Their first kiss wasn’t what most would consider particularly good because neither of them had all that much experience, but nonetheless it was perfect in Donghyuck’s eyes.

Their lips touched ever so softly and moved together in a slow and steady rhythm. It was short and sweet, and when they pulled away, their foreheads remained together.

“We have to get up early tomorrow,” Donghyuck whispered.

“Stay here tonight?” Mark asked softly.

“Wow, our Mark really loves me that much huh?” he said, not being able to keep the smile off his face.

Even in the dark, Hyuck could see Mark blush before look down. He looked back up before responding, newfound confidence in his voice. “I do.”

Now it was Hyuck’s turn to blush. Mark turned back over and Hyuck made himself comfortable with his leg around Mark’s torso and face on his back.

When he woke up in the morning, even though he got less sleep than he usually did, he felt more refreshed than ever.

Mark Lee loved him back. That’s all that mattered.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate any and all feedback!
> 
> Come chat with me! @whynothavefun16


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